The invention relates to spatial light modulators. More specifically, the invention relates to spatial light modulators including an array of light-modification elements which are individually controllable, and analogous to image pixels.
Micro-devices configured as light modulators have found application in a number of areas of technical endeavor. These include, but are not limited to, computing and data storage, displays, and telecommunications. Arrays of light modifying elements are conventionally fabricated by CMOS-compatible processes on silicon. The cost of CMOS-based circuits is usually high, and the reliability can be low due to a need of many layers of thin-film process-created structure. The size of conventional elements in such an array, and thus the resolution of the device, is typically limited by the manufacturing process.